Patricia Pahira has filed a federal wrongful‑death lawsuit against the Haitian truck driver who killed her son, Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Pahira Jr., as well as his employer and the freight broker that hired the company.
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The six‑count complaint seeks more than $150,000 in damages and alleges negligence and reckless disregard of federal safety regulations, though the accusations have not been proven in court.
Trooper Pahira was struck and killed on the morning of July 1 while inspecting a commercial vehicle on the shoulder of Interstate 81 in Cass Township, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that driver Michael Bon chose to operate the truck while fatigued and that Augustin Freight Services knew or should have known he lacked the training and experience to drive safely.
SNK Logistics is accused of failing to vet Augustin Freight Services, a company with a poor safety record that logged 82 unsafe‑driving points and 144 maintenance violations within a year, according to ABC 27.
Bivens said the impact sent Pahira beneath the truck for a considerable distance before the vehicle caught fire.
Pahira, a 20‑year veteran of the state police, had recently moved in with his parents to care for his mother, who was battling cancer.
Bon entered the United States under the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program in July 2024, applied for Temporary Protected Status but was denied, lost his parole in June 2025 and remained in the country, Fox News reported.
He obtained a Massachusetts commercial driver’s license in March 2025 and renewed it in February 2026, even as the Trump administration ordered states to stop issuing or renewing non‑domiciled licenses for ineligible drivers, Fox News reported.
Bon is being held on $700,000 bail at Schuylkill County Prison and faces homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter charges, with his criminal case pending.
The Trump administration has cracked down on illegal immigrants driving trucks after a series of fatal collisions, recently shutting down 110 trucking schools linked to more than 5,000 drivers who failed English‑language proficiency tests, some of them undocumented, according to the Department of Transportation.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference that “you have to speak English to operate a commercial motor vehicle,” noting the rule has existed for decades and that some schools still pass unqualified drivers.
